Welcometo
Tryon Farm Institute online, a web site that we hope you will
find useful as one way to learnand exchange viewsabout
conservation of the natural environment and balanced land
development that combines conservation, farming and housing.

You are invited to browse this site and contribute
to it.

Saying what we mean / meaning what we say

The term "sustainable
development" is widely used by architects, planners, environmentalists
and home owners in connection with new housing complexes, but is
there a common definition of the term? Here is one definition of
"sustainable development":

"Development
that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability
of future generations to meet their needs."

Send your favorite
definition of the term to our webmaster.
Please provide attribution to other sources where appropriate.

Call for content, photos, and volunteers

This
web site will always be a work-in-progress. To make it interestingand
to achieve our educational goalswe need articles, poems,
photographs, editors, artists, designers, and database managers.
Since the Institute's theme is "working with nature,"
contributions should make some connections with people working
with the land to provide needed housing while protecting and respecting
the environment. Our first contributed photographs can be found
here.

We
intend to provide maps, diagrams, and technical specifications
for some of the features found on the land to be administered
by the Instiute. But we also need information about other developments
that have demonstrated successful ways to accommodate the housing
needs of the present without compromising the capacity of future
generations to meet their needs.

Here
are some projects that might contribute to an interesting web
site:

document in words and pictures the new constructed
wastewater wetland being installed at Tryon Farm;

list and provide pictures of non-native plants
that are considered problematic;

report on the processes used at Tryon Farm
to obtain official certification that the land is organic;

reviews of books about the environment you
found especially informative or interesting; and

links to other web sites with helpful information.

The Institute
Board has asked me to serve as webmaster and to coordinate volunteers
working on this site. Please don't let any technical details stand
in the way of your contributing to the web site in creative ways.
For information, please contact: